Gratefulness Matters

Currently I am reading a book of rediscovered writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder edited by Stephen W. Hines. Future posts will contain some quotes from the book as I find her writing to be timely, humorous and practical.

We were big fans of Little House On The Prairie reruns when the hooligans were young. We didn’t subscribe to cable television. Our viewing options were limited and fortunately we found that Little House came on at 5 pm. If we were not going to be home I would set up the VHS recorder so that we could still watch the episodes in order. I am, after all, a sequence kind of girl.

One thing that still brings a smile is that our oldest hooligan was a young teenager when we started watching the show and for some reason or another he and and his best friend would show up at 5 like clockwork but never admit to coming home to watch the show.

There was usually an excuse.

They were skateboarding and needed to come home for a drink of water.

Hunger set in.

They stopped by to check in. Invariably they would drift in to the family room and plop down on the couch to rest for a while.

We recognized that it was fiction but life seemed so much simpler on the prairie.

Members of the town bickered and gossiped and yet when there was a disaster it was all hands on deck. There was a general distrust of strangers and yet no one in need was turned away. On occasion good old Mrs. Oleson was even given to spurts of generosity.

MOMD and I enjoyed the show because it exemplified values we were attempting to instill in our children (and ourselves).

Work hard.

Extend forgiveness.

Cultivate faith.

Help those in need.

Laugh.

Give back to your community.

I’m enjoying Mrs. Wilder’s later writings for the same reasons. She cared about preserving the environment, her community and wrote thoughtfully on many subjects. I’ve only read a few chapters but I notice she doesn’t sugar coat things and yet speaks about courtesy and kindness.

With gratefulness I see that the hooligans do those things. Some things never go out of style.

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I’m Cindi. I read. I write. I am crazy about my family, friends and faith. I sing poorly, laugh loudly and ask questions. A lot of questions. I'll listen to your answers and then ask more questions. Thank you for stopping by.